St Peters Church, Henllys, was first mentioned in the thirteenth century and was established as a chapelry under Bassaleg. It later became the parish church of Henllys, which became a parish in 1754, although, as pluralism was common in many areas of Wales's throughout the eighteenth century, it was served by a curate from Bassaleg until 1877 when the first rector, David Roberts, was appointed. The earliest extant datable openings date from the fifteenth or sixteenth century, although much of the fabric may date from substantially earlier. The church underwent restoration by E. A. Lansdowne in 1872, including a complete refitting of the interior, including the shallow-curved boarded nave rood with moulded ribs. It was further repaired in 1951, when the original sandstone tiles were replaced with slate. Further repairs in the 1970s removed internal plaster and with it much of the hitherto surviving wall paintings. Finally, repairs in the early 1990s included the replacement of several windows.

The church is largely built of coursed local red sandstone rubble dressed with coarse grey and yellow sandstone. It consists of a chancel, nave, western tower, and southern porch. The different masonry of the nave and chancel and the irregular shape of the chancel arch likely indicate different periods of construction. The tower, with its tall protruding polygonal north-east stair turret, corbelled flat parapet, and six gargoyles, is also of two periods of construction.

The churchyard contains a medieval cross on a massive base (NPRN 307834). Internally, the chancel has traces of painting and a fifteenth-century barrel roof with panels with moulded ribs and carved bosses with leaf motifs. A plastered oak beam above the chancel arch may be the remains of a rood screen. The font, which is said to date from the thirteenth century, is octagonal on a circular stem.

Wallpaintings: 
Medieval traces can be found in chancel.

Sources:
Cadw Listed Buildings database.
Evans, Welsh Historic Churches Project, Gwent Churches Survey: Churches in the Archdeaconry of Newport (GGAT: January 1997).
Bradney, Hirstory of Monmouthshire, Vol. 5: The Hundred of Newport (ed. by Gray) (Cardiff: South Wales record Society, 1993), p. 127).
Richard Suggett, Painted Temples: Wallpaintings and Rood-screens in Welsh Churches, 1200–1800, (RCAHMW 2021)

RCAHMW 2021